Resource information
Afghanistan is a deeply fragile and
conflict affected state. It has been in almost constant
conflict for over 35 years since the Soviet invasion of
1979. Today the country is at a crossroads in its
development with economic growth down sharply and poverty
incidence stubbornly high. Afghanistan faces tremendous
development challenges. Gross domestic product (GDP)
per-capita is among the lowest in the world, poverty is deep
and widespread, and social indicators are still at very low
levels. The new government has declared its commitment to
address Afghanistan’s development challenges, through its
paper realizing self-reliance: commitments to reforms and
renewed partnership presented at the London conference in
December 2014. The purpose of this systematic country
diagnostic (SCD) is to provide an evidence-based diagnostic
within an objective framework to help in the identification
of development priorities. Countries in conflict often face
rapidly evolving circumstances and flexibility to adjust
quickly is a necessity. The SCD is thus intended to set
forth a broad and flexible framework for thinking about
choices, prioritization, and sequencing.
